Long-Lived HNLs via ALP Portal at the LHC

TL;DR

This paper explores the potential of the high-luminosity LHC to detect long-lived heavy neutral leptons produced through axion-like particles, considering future detectors and effective operators involving gluons.

Contribution

It introduces a novel search strategy for HNLs via the ALP portal at the LHC, including detailed sensitivity projections for future experiments.

Findings

HNLs can be effectively produced by a dimension-8 operator involving gluons.

Future LHC sensitivities for HNLs via ALP portal are quantified.

The study compares ALP portal production with SMEFT operators involving gluons.

Abstract

Heavy neutral leptons (HNLs) and axion-like particles (ALPs) are both considered well-motivated candidates for beyond the standard model (BSM) physics. If ALPs with sizable couplings to gluons exist, they will be abundantly produced at the LHC. Therefore, HNLs produced via the ALP portal may provide unprecedented sensitivities to HNL parameters. Here, we study the prospects for the high-luminosity LHC to search for long-lived HNLs. We consider future far detectors as well as ATLAS in our simulations. In the limit where the ALP mass is above the TeV scale, HNLs are effectively produced by a dimension-8 operator connecting HNL pairs to gluons. For completeness, we therefore also calculate future LHC sensitivities for HNLs produced via $N_R$SMEFT operators with gluons.